Many residential homes and business facilities utilize appliances and other systems that contain or emit gas that is harmful to humans at or above certain concentrations. For instance, many businesses that offer food and drink utilize soda-dispensing machines that use carbon dioxide to carbonate beverages. Carbon dioxide is lethal to humans above a certain concentration, but it is typically kept in cylinders that are intended to keep the gas contained and within safe concentrations for humans working in close contact with the gas. In the event of a leak, however, the concentration of the gas can rise rapidly to unsafe levels, especially in small, confined areas. Carbon dioxide, like many gases, is odorless and colorless, and thus cannot be detected by humans even in hazardously high concentrations without the aid of a gas monitoring system.
Existing gas monitoring and/or alarm systems merely sense the presence of a gas and may alert those nearby to its presence. Some systems may also alert emergency responders, such as the fire department. However, these systems are not designed to also trigger evacuation of the gas to quickly bring the concentration of the gas in the area back down to a safe level. Moreover, many of these systems are not designed with mechanisms for providing power backup to these lifesaving systems that may otherwise cease operating in the event of a power failure.
Additionally, existing gas monitors typically have an integrated sensor such that the sensor unit and the monitor itself must be physically located in the same area. This is problematic if a user must be near the monitor to know whether gas levels in an area are unsafe; by the time the user is close enough to see the monitor, the user may have already entered a potentially hazardous area. Additionally, most current systems utilize a standalone monitor requiring its own power source. If multiple areas within a building (e.g., different rooms in a building) are being monitored, an entirely separate sensor must be installed in each area.
Gas monitoring and alarm systems designed to overcome one or more of the aforementioned challenges are desired.